Van Wyk roars back

Updated: April 16, 2009

Western Province stars Chanelle van Wyk, Jessica Pengelly and Wendy Trott joined in the race for places in the SA team to compete at the World Championships in Rome in July, as the records tumbled at the Telkom SA Nationals at the Kings Park Aquatics Centre in Durban.

Van Wyk, who returned to her roots in Cape Town 12 months ago, made no mistake in posting a World Championship qualifying time of 28.55sec in the 50m backstroke, to eclipse Kirsty Coventry’s African best of 28.86┬áfrom the record books.

ÔÇ£I have been battling with injury to the rotating blades on both of my shoulders, so I am delighted with the time,ÔÇØ said Van Wyk.

ÔÇ£I missed the SA record (held by Charlene Wittstock at 29.19) by 0,01 of a second in the morning heats, so to better Coventry’s continental record and to post a World Championship A standard qualifying time is really exciting.ÔÇØ

While Natalie du Toit bettered her 800m freestyle world record of┬á9:01.41 in clocking 8:59.11 in the S9 classification and Shireen Sapiro

(S10 classification) clocked a world record of 33.83 in the 50m backstroke which she bettered in the evening session to 33.52, Pengelly

(2:28.65 in the 200m breaststroke semi-final) and Trott (8:31.18 in the 800m freestyle) also pencilled their names into the national selection committee’s shortlist for World Championship action in Rome.

ÔÇ£I hardly ever swim the 200 metres breaststroke and I can hardly believe the time I clocked,ÔÇØ said Somerset West-based Pengelly.

ÔÇ£I still have to compete in the individual medley events and thereafter we can sit down and plan the way forward.ÔÇØ

For Trott, who is studying in Georgia, USA, her World Championship qualifier was well deserved after just missing out on qualification for the 400m freestyle in the 800 metres freestyle event the previous day.

ÔÇ£If I had a bit more time to rest in between the 400m freestyle and

800m freestyle heat, I may have qualified for the World Championships in the 400m freestyle, but I am just pleased to have clocked in for the World Championships in the 800m freestyle event,ÔÇØ said Trott.

Leone Vorster also made her presence felt on a night of fast times, as she clocked a SA record time of 1:59.67 in the 200m freestyle semi-finals, to dip inside Melissa Corfe’s previous record of 1;59.76.

Other familiar names who came to the party with World Championship A

standard qualifying times on the third night of action at the annual┬áswimming showpiece event were Gerhard Zandberg (25.67 in the 50m backstroke), Lyndon Ferns (52.04 in the 100m butterfly), Darian Townsend (52.15 in the 100m butterfly), Jean Basson (1:46.64 in the 200m freestyle) and Jasper Venter (1:48.25 in the 200m freestyle).